


hope beyond hope

by WickedSong



Series: the sorceress and knight [6]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-KHII, Pre-KHIII
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-09-20
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:22:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26565787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WickedSong/pseuds/WickedSong
Summary: “Why don’t you follow it, then?”Leon shook his head.“I want to,” he admitted, but trailing off before he could continue as if he couldn’t quite find the right words. Words, Aerith knew, weren’t his strong point.“Then, what’s the problem?”“Years,” Leon said, decisively. “It’s been years, Aerith. What if this is from before she…before that day? What if I go on a wild goose chase, and I find nothing?”“And what if you findher?”
Relationships: Aerith & Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Cid & Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Cid Highwind/Shera, Leon & Merlin (Kingdom Hearts), Leon & Yuffie (Kingdom Hearts), Rinoa Heartilly/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart
Series: the sorceress and knight [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1270202
Comments: 5
Kudos: 8





	hope beyond hope

**Author's Note:**

> -I'M BACK! For one part, at least, although ideas are forming for others. This might be a one-time deal, I might churn out a few in a few weeks. We'll see, I guess. I was just reading through these stories last night, and was inspired to write this part. 
> 
> -This takes place after KHII credits, but before KHIII? Idk where exactly to fit it in regards to KHIII (I still haven't played Re:mind), but let's say it's before KHIII for now.

When Aerith found him, Leon was reading the letter. Again.

Ever since it arrived, a few days ago, he’d been quiet and withdrawn – at least more so than usual. He’d refused to divulge what was in the letter, but Aerith hadn’t missed the insignia that had flown from the page.

Though no one would say, they knew what the letter was about.

Or, to be more accurate, _who_ it was about (or perhaps, from), and why it spurred such an attitude from Leon.

The Bailey, that overlooked the Castle gave the perfect view of the pride of the town – Radiant Garden boasted the prettiest flower fields in all the worlds – or at least that’s what Aerith believed. Spring was beginning to blossom, and Aerith felt a pang in her heart, remembering hours spent in those fields with her adoptive mother.

How she missed her so.

“Are you going to say anything?”

Aerith folded her arms, her sadness momentarily forgotten. Her concern overtook, almost at once, at the pensive look in Leon’s eyes when he turned to her. The letter was clutched tightly in hand.

“Are you?” Aerith retorted.

There was a sharp silence between them, but Aerith was determined she wouldn’t be the one to break it.

And so, as he had many times before under her unwavering glare, Leon relented.

“You know, don’t you?” he said, waving the letter, but still holding it tightly, like it was the most precious thing in the world.

If Aerith had even a fraction of an idea what it was about, then she wasn’t surprised that it just might be.

“I have an idea,” she admitted. “We all do. But…but we thought you’d want to tell us, instead of us forcing you to.”

Leon nodded, in understanding. He stood from his perch. The flower fields of Radiant Garden were special to him too. Before the fall of their world, his mother was the town’s premier florist. His older sister, Ellone, had been poised to take over the business from her one day.

Until-

Again, there was a pang of sadness, but Aerith willed it away. There’d be a time and a place for it, but it wasn’t here and now, not when there were other, more pressing, things to think about.

“It looks like a map,” Leon admitted, quietly. “It’s her handwriting, too.”

Aerith felt the tiniest glimmer of hope in her heart, and a small smile threatening to tug at the sides of her face. But she forced the emotion away. For some reason, Leon didn’t seem to feel the same way.

“Why don’t you follow it, then?”

Leon shook his head.

“I want to,” he admitted, but trailing off before he could continue as if he couldn’t quite find the right words. Words, Aerith knew, weren’t his strong point.

“Then, what’s the problem?”

“Years,” Leon said, decisively. “It’s been _years_ , Aerith. What if this is from before she…before that day? What if I go on a wild goose chase, and I find nothing?”

“And what if you find _her_?” Aerith argued, fiercely. In her heart of hearts, she knew Leon had never truly given up on Rinoa, and the hope he might find her again someday.

The wings he had painstakingly embroidered on the back of his jacket – so much like Rinoa’s when she first gained her powers - told her that much.

But Aerith didn’t push it any further than that and didn’t remind him of that show of fidelity. Instead, she let it go when Leon silently walked past her, and back towards the town.

Aerith looked up, for a sign. She clasped her hands together in silent prayer, one that she hadn’t said for so long.

“Please,” she whispered. “Please, still be out there.

* * *

“I’ll look after the town!” Yuffie declared happily, as she passed by Leon, and dropped the letter on his worktable. “You don’t have to worry about a thing, Leon. Just bring her back to us.”

There were only a few people who could be so brazen with Leon, and Yuffie was confident she was one of them. He’d been working more than ever, to get the town back up and running, especially since the letter arrived, a week or so ago.

It was obvious that he was trying to bury his feelings in his work, to avoid facing up to the letter and what it contained, but Yuffie wouldn’t let it happen. Not on her watch.

“Where did you find this, Yuffie?” Leon asked, sounding irate.

But Yuffie wouldn’t be deterred by such a thing as an irate Leon. If she did that every time he glowered at her, they’d never get anywhere.

“Your room,” she admitted, brightly. “You can’t hide anything from the Great Ninja Yuffie!”

“And Aerith told you, didn’t she?”

Yuffie pouted a little, at his dismissal of her skill, but bounded quickly to his side, anyway. She took his arm, and attempted to lift him out of his seat, determined to see him on his way.

But that wasn’t a great plan either.

She was the Great Ninja Yuffie, but Leon was far stronger than her, and easily resisted.

Yuffie pouted again, at him. She lifted the letter.

“You’ve gotta follow this, Squall-“

“Leon-“

“Leon, _whatever_ ,” Yuffie interrupted his own, with the deadpan impression of him that made everyone else laugh; Rinoa more than anyone, as far as Yuffie could remember.

Leon ignored her even further now, but Yuffie was determined.

“She’s out there!” Yuffie insisted, jumping up and down. “Don’t you _feel_ it?”

But whatever she said hit a nerve she hadn’t seen before in Leon. Using his hands, he pushed his chair back, rising from the table. Carefully, he snatched the letter out of Yuffie’s hand.

“Don’t tell me what I _should_ feel, Yuffie,” he said, quietly, with a look Yuffie had only ever really seen a handful of times, and it was one that calmed her down, immediately.

The door slammed shut behind him, and Yuffie was left stunned by the hurt in his voice.

She couldn’t think what she had said, and slumped down in Cid’s seat, as she wracked her brains, twiddling her thumbs.

“I was just trying to help.”

* * *

“And so, when did you stop feeling it?” Merlin asked. “The bond, I mean.”

Leon folded his arms, and shrugged, but Merlin could tell the young man in front of him knew his answer very well. Leon thought he was a closed book, but Merlin had lived a long life – so long that he wasn’t confounded by quiet young men with a million and one thoughts.

“A month after-after she-“

Merlin nodded. It was painful for Leon to relive that day, painful for all of them. Rinoa, though she’d arrived in Traverse Town long before any of them, had become a significant part of all their lives. After all, Merlin remembered mournfully, she had just begun to get a hold of her powers before that dreadful day.

She meant so much to all of them, and especially to the man before him.

The bond between a Sorceress and her Knight was a powerful one indeed, and for the connection to have been severed-

“It’s likely,” Merlin began, as gently as he could, as sensitively, “that she perished that day. However,” he added, with a light note in his voice, “the fact that the bond remained, even though it’s now gone, should give you some hope. Death is not the _only_ way to break such a connection, Leon.”

Merlin tried to give the young man a reassuring smile, but found it was difficult. They hadn’t spoken of Rinoa in _years_ , and her memory brought back a crushing sadness he thought his old heart would rather forget.

Leon clutched a letter in his hand, at these words, looking down at it wordlessly, as if it held all the answers.

It was the map; Merlin knew that much. Yuffie told him all about it, much to Aerith’s annoyance. The map that was allegedly from Rinoa herself, though that said nothing about whether she was still alive.

“Can I see that?” Merlin asked, gently, holding out a long finger. “Only for a second, my boy, I assure you.”

Leon looked hesitant but relented eventually. Merlin felt the paper slip between his fingers and waved a hand over it. It was a map indeed. Rinoa’s handwriting too, he would agree with that assessment. He recalled the number of books the young woman would pour over, writing her own notes in the margins, while studying her powers.

The enchantment over this letter was strong too – the distinct magic of a Sorceress - but there was no way of telling exactly _when_ it was cast. The only thing Merlin could say about it was that it was intended to reach Leon, and once it had, the enchantment made itself clearer.

“But there’s a difference between ‘clear’, and ‘clarity’,” Merlin admitted, heavily, to Leon.

It was all he could tell the young man, as they were interrupted, on the urgings of Cid and Yuffie – another day, another headache to solve in a town, that continued to grow, day by day. But at least these disputes were better than the Heartless.

Merlin wished the trio a good day, as they piled out of the house, before turning back to the spell he’d been working on.

“And good luck,” he whispered under his breath, for the adventure Leon was surely about to embark upon.

* * *

Laguna and Raine were good folks, Cid thought. Some of the best he’d ever met.

Leon, or Squall – he would always be Squall, to Cid, and no amount of back-talk would ever change that - was the best of them. He had the thoughtful, and serious nature of his mother, as well as being a born leader, like his father.

Cid snorted, as he thought about it. Laguna wasn’t really what you would call a natural leader – most of the time, he played the bumbling fool - but people liked him; they gravitated towards him, and he helped them as much as he could.

In that way, Laguna and Squall were more similar than Cid had ever imagined they might be.

“Why don’t you follow that map?” Cid asked, outright, one night, as he and Squall watched the sky and the stars.

It’d been two weeks now, since the letter had arrived, and Cid was determined that something had to give. If he could, he’d follow the trail himself – Aerith or Yuffie were happy to oblige too – but something told them it had to be Squall.

No one else could bring Rinoa back if she was still out there.

And Cid had to hope beyond hope that she was.

But Squall didn’t reply; only grunted in response.

“Y’know,” Cid began, “if I got something like that, if I thought Shera was still out there, there wouldn’t be anything that’d stop me from trying to find her.”

“That’s a low blow, Cid,” Squall replied, quickly, “and you know it.”

“Only if it doesn’t work.”

Cid adjusted his position on the seat. He was getting too old for this.

“I can’t,” Squall admitted, quietly. “What about the town? The restoration? The-“

“That’s not it at all, and we both know it,” Cid interrupted.

It was almost imperceptible, but Cid caught Squall rolling his eyes, as if he were surprised, he’d been caught out in his lie.

Cid had known Squall from near enough the day he was born. The fact that the younger man thought he _could_ lie to him, almost made Cid want to laugh.

But it wasn’t a laughing matter.

“Aerith told me,” Cid said. “She was concerned. You said you didn’t even want to try, scared you wouldn’t find her. But you know what I think?”

“No,” Squall replied. “But you’re gonna tell me, aren’t you?”

The younger man folded his arms, sullenly. Times like these, thought Cid, he resembled his mother, but with a petulance more befitting his old man.

“Your darn right I am,” Cid said, gruffly. He stood up and stretched, swearing he could almost hear Shera’s voice in his head, telling him to be gentle with the boy.

“You’re scared,” Cid agreed, “but not that you’ll find her. You’re scared that you will.” And something that clawed at Cid’s chest, a guilt he couldn’t deny, burned, but he continued anyway. “You think you failed her. Some Knight you turned out to be, huh? Isn’t that what you said that day?”

Squall stiffened. Cid thought he’d be lucky if he managed to get out of this without a black eye. But Squall didn’t say anything.

“You’re scared you’ll find her, and she’ll hate you,” Cid said. “Scared that she doesn’t want you to find her at all. And that, _Squall_ , is the biggest crock of crap I’ve heard.”

Cid stopped; expecting Squall to go for the low blow, too. Everything he’d said was how he felt, always, when he thought of Shera and how he couldn’t save her. But still, Squall was silent.

“But Rinoa _saved_ you, that day. She’s not gonna blame you for that, kid, so you gotta stop blaming yourself,” Cid said. “She loves you. And you love her. And we love you both. So, for the love of God, take the gummi ship, and do whatever it takes. Bring her home, won’t you? We miss her, too.”

Cid had nothing more to say on the matter, and thinking Squall needed time to think it over, he turned back into the house, hoping that he’d managed to talk some sense into the young man.

Wishing too that, wherever they were, Laguna and Raine would guide their son too.

* * *

_Cid,_

_You were right._

_I’ve taken the Ship. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, so tell Yuffie she has to take care of the town, like she promised. (Just don’t leave her in charge of anything dangerous)._

_And tell Aerith I’m sorry for shutting you all out. She doesn’t have to worry. None of you do._

_I’ll find Rinoa._

_And I’ll bring her home._

“Well, look at that,” Cid said, with a low whistling sound, as Aerith and Yuffie peered at the paper, to equal degrees of happiness. “I actually got through to him.”

While Aerith said a prayer, and Yuffie yattered about her plans for the town – surely Squall didn’t actually mean to leave her in charge, because the power had already gone to her head – Cid looked out the window, up to the blue sky that hid a vast galaxy of stars.

One of those stars, one of those many words, Squall would find Rinoa. Cid was sure of it.

“Godspeed, Ragnarok,” he whispered. “Godspeed.”

**Author's Note:**

> -I hope you caught the line-by-line reference to FFVIII in there, guys ;)


End file.
